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esoteric_toad 466

esoteric_toad
466

I have pointed out that all theories require consensus, testing, and confirmation.

Most of the latest discussion has been a straw man argument in which someone pretends that finding dissension must mean I am wrong when I am not a defender of any of these theories. It is simply a ludicrous illogical construct.

Even the steady state theory still has adherents today. went to lecture by one such person. Been to several creationist lectures as well to see what they have to say.

I don't disagree with you. it just seems that I see someone claiming that the string theory is invalidated somehow because one scientist thinks it's no good. just was trying to stay that just because certain scientist don't adhere to a certain theory does not completely invalidate it.

to the best of my knowledge I'm not aware of any scientific theory at all that includes things like poltergeist.unless you throw in some scientific theory that could be in some fantasy novel or science-fiction I suppose.

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esoteric_toad 466

esoteric_toad
466

The issue here is there is no true empirical evidence or study of poltergeist or really anything deemed paranormal. There have been studies though, no denying that. Was there anything of usefulness found? Certainly nothing as Earth shattering as one would expect (of course one could subscribe to some sort of international Illuminati organization covering up but I do like Occams Razor so....)

Ultimately it seems that poltergeist, like most things deemed paranormal, are nothing more than a collection of stories and anecdotes. It is riddled with shoddy research, much of which done with tools that cannot even be proven to test what it is that is being searched for. Then there is the seemingly endless list of hoaxes that at one time may have fooled people and in many cases where likely thought of as more of a type of entertainment rather than anything serious (think tabloids like the weekly world news and the subjects they covered). Most of what I have read about any sort of paranormal (including poltergeist) goings-on leaves virtually no doubt about how easy it would be for the events to be blown out of proportion, open to hoaxing, fulfilling wishful thinking, outright conning gullible people, a form of escapism or simply a fad that changes over time.

Over the thousands of years that mankind has been civilized (and before I am sure) we have believed in many things that have fallen to the side because of science and common sense. Over those many many years belief in the paranormal has always been there and likely always will be. That does not mean it actually exists. Claims of spirits, ghosts, demons, faeries, poltergeist and a myriad of other supernatural beings throughout THOUSANDS of years and yet we still have nothing, only tales. Throughout those same thousands of years we went from hunter gatherers to the technological society we are today. We went from small clans struggling to survive the elements to having a permanent presence in space orbiting the Earth.

In all those thousands of years of surviving and figuring out everything that has gotten us to where we are today people believed in the paranormal. Many people looked into those beliefs and dispelled many of them as well. Science advanced and still those beliefs carried on. So for all those thousands of years we are where we are and yet there is still nothing scientific about anything paranormal to speak of. For those that believe nothing has changed, nothing has advanced and those basic primitive beliefs are still intact (and unproven).

Incidentally from what I have read the poltergeist problem is easily "cured". Simply invite a few friends to stay with you a while, they never seem to like numbers. Also moving away seems to work well. That and just keep trying to get real evidence, sure they might take things and make them disappear but while you are trying they seem to just b***** off. Invite some close minded skeptics over, they don't seem to tolerate that very well either. Subject them to groups of scientists, that seems to be poltercide to them.

I've babbled on enough...sorry if it rambled a bit. The whole thing is just silly.

Edited March 26 by esoteric_toadDidn't realize that rugger (with a b) was considered all that foul of a word, huh.

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macqdor 291

macqdor
291

You see that's where you get in trouble. You think the poltergeist is suppose to make sense. Let me tell from my own experience nothing about the poltergeist sense. The poltergeist is an enigma within an enigma. A riddle inside a sea of riddles.

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The issue here is there is no true empirical evidence or study of poltergeist or really anything deemed paranormal. There have been studies though, no denying that. Was there anything of usefulness found? Certainly nothing as Earth shattering as one would expect (of course one could subscribe to some sort of international Illuminati organization covering up but I do like Occams Razor so....)

False - there's an abundance of evidence going back ages about the poltergeist i.e. about the phenomena. Investigators, researchers, house occupants, civil servants, clergy, people from all walks of life have reported instances. Have seen instances. We'll have to agree to disagree. I can't help people who purposely avoid studying the phenomena themselves. The data is their on the net and in organizations. None which you believe are legit so I'm not going to name them.

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stereologist 15,435

stereologist
15,435

I don't disagree with you. it just seems that I see someone claiming that the string theory is invalidated somehow because one scientist thinks it's no good. just was trying to stay that just because certain scientist don't adhere to a certain theory does not completely invalidate it.

to the best of my knowledge I'm not aware of any scientific theory at all that includes things like poltergeist.unless you throw in some scientific theory that could be in some fantasy novel or science-fiction I suppose.

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stereologist 15,435

stereologist
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You see that's where you get in trouble. You think the poltergeist is suppose to make sense. Let me tell from my own experience nothing about the poltergeist sense. The poltergeist is an enigma within an enigma. A riddle inside a sea of riddles.

False - there's an abundance of evidence going back ages about the poltergeist i.e. about the phenomena. Investigators, researchers, house occupants, civil servants, clergy, people from all walks of life have reported instances. Have seen instances. We'll have to agree to disagree. I can't help people who purposely avoid studying the phenomena themselves. The data is their on the net and in organizations. None which you believe are legit so I'm not going to name them.

There is no evidence for poltergeists. You on the other hand are the promoter of one of the silliest poltergeist stories.

There is no evidence. There are plenty of tall tales, fiction, and hoaxes.

Just to make fun of yourself you go for the uncertainty principle which as we see is

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In quantum mechanics, the uncertainty principle (also known as Heisenberg's uncertainty principle) is any of a variety of mathematical inequalities[1] asserting a fundamental limit to the precision with which certain pairs of physical properties of a particle, known as complementary variables or canonically conjugate variables such as position x and momentum p, can be known.

It is a mathematically derived property, sort of like string theory.

Here is where the wackos get it wrong

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Historically, the uncertainty principle has been confused[5][6] with a related effect in physics, called the observer effect, which notes that measurements of certain systems cannot be made without affecting the systems, that is, without changing something in a system.

This quantum effect is not the observer effect. It only applies to the microscopic world. It cannot be detected in the macroscopic world.

Then you go to the double slit. What has you confused about that issue?

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stereologist 15,435

stereologist
15,435

My inserting Penrose was the ultimate check mate to your notion that string theory has been proven. It hasnt. It's a 30+ yr old theory that has provided zero evidence to it being real.

So says physicists the world over. One being Roger Penrose.

Clueless, just clueless.

First off scientific theories cannot be proven. String theory is a mathematical theory and there is a collection of proved theorems. The question which I have stated since page 2 is that the extent to which string theory reflects reality is unknown.

onlookerofmayhem
1,403

"Penrose is an atheist who calls himself “a very materialistic and physicalist kind of person,” and he’s bothered by New Agers who’ve latched onto quantum theories about non-locality and entanglement to prop up their paranormal beliefs."

In science, a theory is a stronger assertion. Typically, it's a claim about the relationship between various facts; a way of providing a concise explanation for what's been observed. The American Museum of Natural History puts it this way: "A theory is a well-substantiated explanation of an aspect of the natural world that can incorporate laws, hypotheses and facts."

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stereologist 15,435

stereologist
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You can always spot the lunatics because they turn to things they have no idea what they are talking about and pretend it is related to something they are promoting.

I'm surprised Tesla and entanglement and micro black holes and other malarkey has not been posted.

People have not clue and they write double slit or uncertainty principle or exclusion principle or whatever. They think they can fool people. The only fool is the one posting things they do not understand.

In the last 2 1/2 pages macdor has posted 5 times proving they are clueless about what a scientific theory is.

Take Penrose. I wrote " Penrose is a mathematician and is pointing out this is math and not science. "

What does Penrose call string theory. He calls it a fashion. What does he mean by that?

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For Penrose, on the other hand, string theory’s "stranglehold on developments in fundamental physics has been stultifying”. He exposes a series of technical holes in the theory, questioning, in the tone of a bemused schoolmaster, why they have not been seriously addressed. The implication is that string theorists are too caught up in following their field’s latest fashions to be worried about the foundational problems of the theory.

He indicates that the mathematics is fashion because it is fashionable to do. He points out that the mathematically correct and beautiful theory is not science.

That's what I wrote. I am agreeing with Penrose. Apparently, reading and comprehending the article is important in being able to discuss it.

Again then it comes to QM and Penrose calls it faith the issue is this:

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For Penrose, quantum mechanics is “faith” because its mathematics uses assumptions that could never really be logically justified – and nobody really understands the theory anyway.

Again, its the mathematics. Once more reading and comprehending the article is important.

And how does all of this end up? Penrose admits he has crazy ideas of his own.

Quote

When Penrose describes a theory as fantastical he is not necessarily being disparaging. As he emphasises, the universe is full of apparently fantastic notions that are demonstrably valid – the Big Bang origin of the universe, for example, or the existence of black holes. Sometimes wild ideas are appropriate; but only when they describe our observations of the universe better than rival theories.

In the final chapter, Penrose indulges to lay out two wild theories of his own. The first, conformal cyclical cosmology, is his self-described “crazy” theory that the universe has no beginning or end; rather it iterates through infinite cycles. The heat death of one universe becomes the Big Bang of the next. Meanwhile “twistor theory” is Penrose’s stab at linking general relativity and quantum mechanics. The “twist” comes from the idea that quantum spin is tied up in spacetime. Though Penrose first suggested the theory in the 1960s, it has seen a surge in interest in recent years.

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macqdor 291

macqdor
291

"Penrose is an atheist who calls himself “a very materialistic and physicalist kind of person,” and he’s bothered by New Agers who’ve latched onto quantum theories about non-locality and entanglement to prop up their paranormal beliefs."

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macqdor 291

macqdor
291

................................ Of course, it is possible that a final theory will never be found, that neither string theory nor any of the alternatives mentioned by Smolin and Woit will come to anything. Perhaps the most fundamental truth about nature is simply beyond the human intellect, the way that quantum mechanics is beyond the intellect of a dog.

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macqdor 291

macqdor
291

Yet since string theory became ascendant about three decades ago, “there has not been a single genuine breakthrough in understanding of elementary particle physics.” Not only is string theory rife with malarkey about imperceptible dimensions, Smolin fears, it may be holding back legitimate science. Lee Smolin

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It is imperative, Smolin thinks, to stop talking sci-fi claptrap about alternate universes and get back to figuring out why our own physical world is as we observe. Perhaps Smolin is right that pure-physics breakthroughs are an imperative. Or perhaps stumbling around in the dark will be the physicist’s lot for generations to come—my guess is that we know the first 1 percent of what there is to be known, and it may be centuries before we learn such things as why matter exists. If we ever know.

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The Trouble With String Theory

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esoteric_toad 466

esoteric_toad
466

It's funny in a twisted way that a physicist that talks about how ridiculous string theory might be, calling it science fiction claptrap is being held up by someone who believes poltergeist cannot be understood by any science at all. Even if string theory doesn't pan out at least there was an atempted to explain the unknown rather than saying it's unknowable.